Toyota offends Chinese consumers

Japanese car maker Toyota Thursday apologized to Chinese consumers for running advertisements that had drawn widespread indignation and criticism from China's netizens, who see them as a deliberate act by the Japanese car firm to insult the Chinese.

Chinese netizens didn't take long to do a spoof of the ad (shown above), showing stone lions smashing the Japanese car instead, and call for an all out boycott of Japanese products.

Toyota translates the word Prado as "Badao" in Chinese, a word that means "high-handed" or "domineering." The tagline reads "You have to respect Baoda."

The two car ads look harmless at first glance.

The first ad shows a Toyota Land Cruiser pulling a broken-down truck, which looks similar to a Chinese military vehicle, up a rocky incline. The suggestion, according to critics, is that Japanese SUVs are more durable than China's military equipment - a statement sure to draw heated remarks in China, considering Japan's military past in the region.

The second ad shows a stone lion, a traditional symbol of power in China, saluting one of Toyota's new Prado SUVs. Alas, many connect the stone-lion with those carved on the Marco Polo bridge where Japanese imperial troops launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937. The bridge has become one of the symbols of humiliation China has suffered in modern history.

One district Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau in Beijing is investigating to see if the ads are illegal.

"If they have the effect of hurting the nation's feeling, it will be considered a violation of the advertisement publication code," the official said. If the ads are illegal, they will be banned, and Toyota could be fined.

"I don't think the ads will affect the business of Toyota," said Gu Qun, an analyst for Automotive Resources Asia Ltd. "What most real buyers care about is price and model performance."

Source: Peoples Daily

The following is the full text of Toyota's letter of apology:
Toyota motor Corp sincerely apologizes for the unpleasant feelings that may have caused to readers by the two ads of Land Cruiser and Prado SUV. The two ads are solely commercial and contain no other intention.

Toyota has stopped running the two ads. Toyota will continue to provide its Chinese consumers with the most satisfactory goods and services, and hopes for support from Chinese consumers.